1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thermal transfer print sheet, an image forming apparatus, and a method for same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method for printing a desired image or a design such as a logo on a transfer target medium such as a fabric product including a T-shirt, a sweat shirt, or work clothes, wood, or a metal plate, a method and an apparatus are known which create a thermal transfer print sheet by overlaying, on a release sheet, an image to be thermally transferred to a transfer target medium and an adhesive agent for bonding the image to the transfer target medium.
When an image is to be transferred to a transfer target medium such as a T-shirt, a thermal transfer print sheet is overlaid on the transfer target medium with its surface (hereinafter referred to as a front surface) where the transfer object of the thermal transfer print sheet has been overlaid opposing the transfer target medium, and heat and pressure are applied from the rear surface of the thermal transfer print sheet by using an iron or the like, whereby the image is fixed on the transfer target medium.
As one of methods for creating the above-described thermal transfer print sheet, there has been proposed a technique of creating a thermal transfer print sheet by overlaying the following three types of layers on a release sheet (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 2011-152662). In this technique, first, a color toner (C, M, Y toner; hereinafter referred to as chromatic toner) layer serving as a transfer image to be thermally transferred and a transparent toner (hereinafter referred to as achromatic toner) layer for expressing white areas in the image are formed on a release sheet. Next, a mount, on which an adhesive agent layer such as a white urethane layer different from the release sheet is formed, is overlaid on the release sheet such that the surface of the adhesive agent layer is opposed to the chromatic toner layer and the achromatic toner layer on the release sheet. Then, heat and pressure are applied on the mount so as to transfer the adhesive agent layer to the chromatic toner layer and the achromatic toner layer on the release sheet.
As the above-described adhesive agent layer, a white urethane layer or the like is used to have not only the effect of bonding a transfer image to be thermally transferred to a transfer target medium such as a T-shirt but also the effect of preventing the background color of the transfer target medium from being transmitted through the thermally transferred transfer image from below and affecting the transfer image. Also, an achromatic toner layer is formed on areas in the transfer image which are to be expressed as white areas, and an adhesive agent layer such as a white urethane layer is transferred to and overlaid on the achromatic toner layer, whereby the color “white” is actualized.
If achromatic toner is transferred at a concentration (density) of 100% to chromatic (C, M, Y) areas and areas in an image which are to be expressed as white areas, a large amount of achromatic toner is consumed. Also, if achromatic toner is transferred to only areas in an image which are to be expressed as white areas without transferring any achromatic toner to chromatic toner (C, M, Y) areas, no adhesive agent layer is transferred to toner layers in areas where the densities of the chromatic toner (C, M, Y) are low. In this case, when the image is thermally transferred to a transfer target medium such as a T-shirt, part of the image is sometimes not transferred and is omitted, or the transferred image is easily removed by washing or friction.